So the other night I posted to Facebook, “During the summer, on the evenings I have physio, I’ve been going into my office a little later and then going straight from work to 7 pm physio. Tomorrow that ends and the academic year 830 am meetings begin. I’ll leave the house on my bike at 730 and return on my bike at 830. Wish me luck! Also the bike light charging station is all set up.”

As a result, I’ve had some questions about why I ride my bike to school and to physio. People get my recreational/fitness riding, but many non-cyclists puzzle about the everyday riding.

Here’s some of the reasons I’d rather ride my bike:

♥ I love the time between things.

♥ I enjoy the movement.

♥ Love the outdoor air.

♥ There’s a freedom that comes with having my bike. I can leave when I want and come home when I want. I’m not dependent on the plans of others. I think about it every time I’m waiting for a drive. I should have just ridden my bike!

♥ I don’t pay for parking on campus, and I like the frugality of riding to work. Not having a parking pass is a definite nudge towards biking. But of course, I could get a drive to work. I do that on some days. My mother and I share a car, and she’s happy to drive me to campus. That brings me to my next reason.

♥ More and more, I’ve been thinking about the environment. For short distances–and in Guelph they are all short distances, Guelph is a small town–we should all walk or ride bikes, if we can. I love that Strava now tells me, on rides I tag as commutes, how much carbon I saved by riding instead of driving. Here’s my ride home from physio the other night.

The carbon saved info is part of a recent update to Strava. On activities tagged as commutes, Strava will calculate the estimated carbon saved as compared to completing that trip in the average personal passenger vehicle, based on this 2021 US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report. 

Here’s more on reasons to ride:

Reasons to ride that don’t include weight loss

“On yer bike” for oh so many reasons, but weight loss isn’t one of them

Why do you ride?

And then there’s 33 Reasons to Start Commuting by Bike this Fall.

♥ And of course, there’s this reason, which is my favourite.

Things to know about me: I am a rule following kind of person. It’s hardwired. It’s what I do.

But I confess that until today, I didn’t have a bell on my commuting bike.

I mean, I had one, years ago, but it broke, and I never replaced it, mostly because I only had it to comply with the law. I rarely, if ever, used it.

Why not? Well, it startled people. And I was finding that either people have headsets on, in which case it doesn’t matter what noise I make, or they seemed less startled, and more appreciative of a cheery “Good morning.”

To be clear, our gravel paths along the river and through the Arboretum are wide and not at all crowded so my bike commute is pretty stress free. So far even the off leash dogs have been well behaved and my only near collision was with turtles the other morning.

Here’s some scenes from my long commute:

But last week, as I was cycling through the Aboretum on my long way to work, I passed an elderly man with a small dog and my “hello, good morning” wasn’t enough. “Don’t you have a bell on that thing you could ring?” he yelled back.

The laneway we were on was as wide as a regular road and I had passed all the way over to the right. Still, I’d startled him. He expressed a bell preference. It is the law that, all bikes have a working bell or horn so that you can announce your approach.

So now I have a bell.

The pink bell clashes. I think it was a stocking stuffer meant for the Brompton which also doesn’t have a bell. Will remedy that too, get a new one for the commuting bike and put the pink one on the Brompton.

In the meantime, cyclists and non-cyclists alike, which do you prefer, bell or no bell? “Good morning, hello,” or “bring bring”?

This looks like a good place to star my research: Put a Bell on Your Fast Bike Already.

Many years ago I was chatting with an Old South neighbour who also worked at Western University in London, Ontario and who aspired to commute by bike. We agreed that the bike path to campus along the river was was beautiful and safe and that many factors (no stressful traffic, no expensive parking, time in nature before and after work, environmental reasons, and daily exercise) made biking the obviously best choice.

But, she said, what about the big hill out of the park up to the bridge?

What about it?

I confess though it’s short I was annoyed by the hill out of the park because at the time I was riding a fixed gear bike. I had to take a run at it and sometimes there were people walking on the path and slowing down on the fixie was problematic. But even on the fixie it wouldn’t stop me commuting by bike.

The neighbour was worried she’d need to walk the bike up the hill. I don’t think it would be necessary given that her bike had gears but even so, it’s a pretty short hill to walk up if you have to. But the thing is she was embarrassed by the idea of walking her bike up the hill and that alone was possibly enough to keep her from riding. She felt she wasn’t in good enough shape to ride to work if she couldn’t make it up the hill.

Me, I think it’s okay to walk your bike up the occasional hill. See Sam changes her thinking on walking her bike up hills.

I also think most casual cyclists don’t learn to use their gears. I see people struggling and have to resist yelling, “Shift!” at them.

The biggest factor though isn’t either of these things. It’s that hills intimidate us. I loved Julia’s recent post about hills.

The same is true for commuting to the University of Guelph from the Northside of the city. People comment all the time that they’re impressed I ride up the Gordon Street hill. I don’t quite say “what hill?” but it’s true it’s not much of a hill. I slow down for it but even my Brompton easily makes it up Gordon. It’s annoying but as hills go, it’s not much of a hill.

Here’s the Gordon Street hill:

So my standard view on hills and bike commuting is a)use your gears, and b)if you run out of gears, it’s ok to walk your bike.

I guess my view about hills and urban commuting changed a bit when I lived in Dunedin, NZ for a term while on sabbatical visiting The University of Otago. There the hills were steep enough that some routes just didn’t make sense by bike. I lived in an area that people referred to as the city rise. That meant I had a long set of steps up to my house from the street below and my bike commute would have been a very fast downhill to work and likely walking the bike uphill for at least part of the way home. Needless to say, I walked.

Getting around town in Dunedin it was never enough to know how far away anything was. Distance wasn’t the most important measurement. I once set out on my road bike to get to the velodrome in Mosgiel–just 20 km away. I gave myself an hour (normally fine on the road bike) neglecting to see that something aptly called Three Mile Hill was between me and there. I was late, obviously, and too tired to do much riding when I got there. And after that I drove like others riding at the velodrome, which felt all wrong to me.

Other than gearing, or e-assist, what would help make cycling more accessible in really hilly cities?

Cork is considering a lift like the one in Trondheim

See here, ‘Bicycle lift’ proposed to help cyclists climb steep 14% street.

Here is the story of the lift named Trampe,

What’s your opinion about hills and bike commuting?

My normal bike commute here in Guelph is a little too short. It’s just a couple of kilometers. I’d walk it except I can’t because of my knees.

I’ve also been missing my London commute along the river on the bike path.

Guelph has a river and a river side bike trail but it’s not the most direct route to work. This past week I put all these facts together and starting riding the long way to work. Up the riverside bike path, and then down through the Arboretum to my office. It’s about 5.5 km. That’s still shorter than my 7 km London commute but it’s enough to make it feel worthwhile getting on the bike.

Today I saw a turtle and a giant tree that fell on the path. That’s much more interesting than my neighbourhood route.

There’s also a very pretty wooden, covered bridge on my route.

It was a good idea anyway. It’s a much nicer ride. But it’s part of getting ready to ride the Friends for Life Bike Rally in August. I’ve always thought that the hardest part of the rally isn’t the distance you ride each day, it’s getting up and doing it again. So daily riding is definitely part of my training plan.

I’m increasingly nervous about getting enough riding time in. I don’t want to struggle with both knee pain and fitness. Every weekend from here on in, rain or no rain, I’m going to be training.

I’m also struggling this year with fundraising. You can sponsor me here. Please, any amount helps. I’m about a third of the way to my goal.

So I have two patterns of winter riding.

Some years I ride through. Whee!

Other years I stop at some point, take a break (often for the months of January and February) and start again in early spring. The latter always seems harder. It feels cold. It’s a big deal to get going again. It’s always March.

This year, I took time off in the worst of the winter because of the pandemic. In January we had another work from home thing and there was no need to commute by bike to my dining room table.

I rode my bike to work for the time in 2022 on Friday, March 18th. The roads were clear enough that I didn’t even need my adventure road/gravel bike. I went straight to the Brompton.

My route to work is relatively short and easy. It’s a noodle through my neighbourhood and then I cross one busy street and then I’m on campus, riding past the horses and cows.

But I’m reminded, getting back on my bike, of the safety issues involved in bike commuting because of what happened on my first March bike commute, 11 years ago. I’ve had two bike accidents that have landed me in hospital but this is the first and only one that involved a car.

See Thoughts on my first spring bike commute and why I take the lane for more about that fateful March morning and how it made me a safer, and more assertive, bike commuter.

Here’s the Facebook memories of the day that also remind me about it.

In the scheme of things, it wasn’t a serious accident. I broke no bones, required no stitches, and didn’t even get a concussion. (Thank you helmet!) I was picked up by an ambulance, strapped to a board, and spent the day in hospital getting all of me checked out.

That accident has ever since made getting back on the bike in March feel like a big deal, a momentous decision to ride. I’m aware that I was lucky.

Sarah also shared this TikTok with me about road safety and giving cyclists enough room on road.

After a week or so, it won’t feel like a big deal at all. I know that. But for right now, I’m feeling the weight of my choice to commute on two wheels.

I’m happy to be back on my bike but I’m nervous happy, if you know what I mean.

Update: Today’s memories from Facebook tell more of the story.